No More Red
by aratcorien
Summary: Post BDM: Jayne and River get injured on a job. What happens when the 'verse sticks their nose in it? Rating for graphic medical situations, and sexual connotations in later chapters. Rayne, MalInara, KayleeSimon
1. Saw the Needle and the Damage Done

A/Ns:  
Welcome, I started this fic with a specific image in mind, and I don't expect it to be long. All the gruesome medically oriented detail is in this chapter.  
Disclaimer: Firefly in its entirety belongs to its creator Joss Wedon, and the Mutant Enemy, Inc., Universal Pictures, and 20th Century Fox thereof. Not mine, and I am not gaining any monetary value for any work of writing committed to page. This is fanfiction, no copywrite infringement is intended.

* * *

"Jayne!!" River swerved around faster than light, firing off two more shots before throwing her empty gun with enough strength to buy the time to properly keel the third guy over. Mal and Zoe were fighting to the right, River and Jayne had been caught and systematically pushed away from their Captain and his First Mate.

By the time she got to the large bodied merc his yellow t-shirt was stained a crimson hue. "Jayne! Jayne, no red! I told you no red!" She fumbled at his shirt before a hand gripped hers and held them steady. He had toppled down under the force of a solid land vehicle veering for his body. It ended up running over his leg before River capped off the pilot and her gun-mounted passenger.

"Musta forgot. Just a scratch." Blue eyes shooting up, he pushed River away with a bellow of pain in time to save her from getting an axe to the neck. She swung in mid fall, and kicked out the attacker's leg at the knee. It cracked and bent sickeningly forward in tandem with the man's stiffled scream.

River was on top of the man choking the life out of his throat before scrambling a hand down to grab at the knife Jayne tossed at her. Pity they wouldn't be able to show his corpse at his funeral without serious reconstruction. Three more shots rang out, Zoe's signature shot gun plowed through a bandit who had taken to trying to kill the Captain, another gunman from the dwindling band of ne'er-do-wells fired off his pistol, before Jayne shot him squarely through the throat.

River staggered for a step as her body quivered, then twisted as she fell to her knees in front of Jayne.

"No red." she gagged on the words as the last she heard was Jayne's long thin line of cursing when he grabbed her body mid-fall.

"Gorrammit, Mal! MAL!" Jayne screamed over the dying gurgles of the battle field exploded with a grenade - Captain had let Jayne bring some this job. Lucky them. Still bleeding from the gouge taken out of his shoulder, Jayne leaned over River's limp body before ripping his shirt off and using it to staunch the blood.

"The hell!? What happened!?" Mal slid over, the crew's payment still firmly in his pocket.

"Seem to be in a gunfight, Sir!" Zoe yelled as she fired off her shotgun again. By now the rest of the bandits that had tried to take over the ship were vacating the area faster than an egg scrambles on the surface of a star.

"Shit, she breathin'?" Their little Reader looked more'n a mite pale lying there half in Jayne's arms.

"Bullet went right though. Get the doc!" The body of the twenty year old government trained assassin bucked under the shock of a post shock seizure. Biting his cheeks Jayne picked her up and stood on his clearly decimated ankle. If the way his armoured boot's position was any indication, the man shouldn't even have been able to stand. He did, for her, adrenaline rushing through his veins as he held his beloved River. The bandits had thought enough before hand to run it over with what was the closest similarity to an Earth-that-was tank. 'Course he'd seen it coming so instead of killing him, it had run over his boot. Another long line of curses flooded the Cargo Bay as Jayne knocked himself up against the railing walking up to the Infirmary. Zoe pushed the correct button and Serenity closed herself up for take off, as a shuddering and unconfident Inara fluttered through taking the cumbersome ship up in River's absense. After the ship was secure, Mal and Zoe raced back to where Jayne struggled with River. Her convulsions weren't helping his broken-down instability none, and the Captain and Zoe could see it. Grabbing ahold of River, Mal tugged her away from the struggling merc and ran her to an Infirmary where Simon waited pacing with an ashen taste in his mouth. Zoe watched Jayne stumble forward with the loss of River's added weight and tumble to the stairs.

"Godammit!" The first order of business was to tend to River, he could wait he wasn't. . . Zoe's arms under his shoulders stopped any burgeoning thought processes before they began to develop.

"C'mon, Jayne. You're bleedin all over." He didn't even give much thought to bein' shot up himself. Kaylee was busy pushing everything non-medical off the mess table before Jayne was uncerepticiously thrown onto it by the remaining crew members.

"I'm fine, see t'River!"

"She got plenty seein' t'her. Simon and Mal're both in there. Stretch out." Zoe prepped a hypodermic needle with a healthy dose of fast acting painkiller before plunging it into Jayne's uninjured arm muscle.

"You're bleedin! Oh my gawd, what happened t'your boot, Jayne!?" Kaylee was afraid to touch it, no human foot could survive unbroken in such a confined state. Laying out, Jayne grit his teeth and nodded to Zoe.

"Somethin' with treads ran over it's what. Gorrammit help me get this off!" The pain killers were beginning to fog out his perriferal vision as the ship lurched out of the small moon's atmosphere. Inara's shaken voice came over saying that they were out of harm's way and the auto-pilot was set. Her footsteps weren't far behind the sound of her voice as she raced in to check on the rest of the crew.

"What happened -- OH!" Inara's startled shriek ended with her upturned gaze and a prayer on her lips.

Even with the painkillers, Jayne's body was broken enough to make him grunt unwillingly. Better 'n biting his tongue. Zoe sawed at the laces of the boot, and started cutting away the hard fibers and old leathers, as she worked Kaylee patched up his shoulder, still wide-eyed and about to puke as Jayne's foot seemed to crumble uselessly to gravity's pull once all the pieces of the boot were off. Zoe's confidence only showed a glimpse of temporary doubt when she bit the insides of her own cheek.

Mal exited the Infirmary once he was assured that he was no longer needed to help with River, and came into the Mess Hall in time for Inara to run into his chest, before whimpering and running for the nearest head. A nauseous Companion was rare enough to get Mal to hurry. Sniffing up a steeling breath at the sight of Jayne's foot and ankle Mal sent Kaylee to go check on Inara.

"'S broken, Sir"

"I got eyes, Zoe. Reset it."

"Sir. . . " Zoe looked to Jayne, glad that his eyes were glazed over with the amount of drugs in his system. "There ain't no bone left t'set,"

Blinking, Mal took a moment to truely look at Jayne's foot and ankle. WIthout the boot to stabilise it somewhat, the only thing holding Jayne Cobb's appendage as part of his body was the mostly unbroken skin. The bones had been pulverized into sticky dust.

"Jayne. . . " River's weakened voice stumbled to their ears along with her body, being held up by a half-frantic Simon.

"She wouldn't stay in the . . . oh good god. Get him to the Infirmary now!" River stumbled into Jayne's unbleeding shoulder with a wave of blood-loss induced weakness. "Jayne." She sobbed out his name as she brushed his hair away from his forehead.

"Think. . . think my foot's broke. Bad broke." he whispered out, glad to see River awake and walking. Their contact was abruptly disconnected as Mal and Zoe took places on either side, and lifted the heavy merc with tandem grunts. Simon had already escaped back to his Infirmary and had out a very sharp saw. Once Jayne was positioned on the chair, Simon locked Inara and Kaylee out.

"River, are you sure you want to be here for this?" River nodded at her brother and took her place at Jayne's head cooing as soothing words as she could handle saying and hugging onto his shoulders with her good arm.

"Whassis? Cap, why's th'doc got a saw?" Jayne's mood was quickly changing from 'loving the painkillers but damn this hurts' to 'why the fuck is Zoe strapping me down?'

"Your foot's gone. Needs t'come off. Here, bite this." Mal stripped off his belt and doubled over the thickness, fitting it between Jayne's teeth. The painkillers had been meant for mid-level pain, not amputation. From the way his foot was beginnning to balloon with swelling, Simon knew they didn't have time to wait for anesthetization.

"Hold him steady!" Mal and Zoe each took a side, River still cooing soothing babble into his ears. Jayne whimpered and shut his eyes, nodding resolutely at the doc to do what had to be done.

"He wants you to be quick and solid. Do it, Simon!" River looked up with tears in her eyes. She and Jayne had literally fallen on top of each other after the Maidenhead. In fact, after the Feds disengaged their weaponry, Jayne had lept exhausted to his feet and taken her into his arms bloody weapons and all. The couple had been inseparable since then, daring anyone on the crew to stand in their way. No one did.

Being the emergency doctor he was trained to be, Simon took his position straddling Jayne's injured leg and began to saw. A strangled scream followed Jayne's instinctive attempts to buck and fight away from the searing pain. His eyes never left River's as she screamed in associatedly felt pain. Mal and Zoe shared a knowing series of glances as finally the foot was completely severed and landed on the floor with a splat.

"No red. Norednorednorednored" River babbled, as Mal lept across the room to grab Simon the flesh sealer gun to cotterize the wound. Simon cleaned up the puddle of Jayne's foot himself as the stronger dose of painkillers finally sent the amputee merc to sleep. River still refused to leave his side, curling up on his chest until Mal carried her onto the cot they had placed in beside Jayne's chair. Even with a foot or two of distance between them, their hands stayed linked together.


	2. A Calm Before

A/N: Onward with the fic and emotional toil!

* * *

Post-Miranda Aten held a lightly more disenfranchised mood than its pre-Miranda days and for good reason, the Alliance had been thoroughly shaken off its foundings. River Tam and the crew of Serenity had gained a status somewhere between Celebrity and Upstart Political Lobbyists, with a group of people either hounding them for anecdotes, or for their names on a new political agenda. Or just to plain shoot them in the face, there were many a folk like that, too.

Needless, it would be a matter of days before Jayne's replacement foot and ankle arrived in its metallic, shiny glory.

"A merc with no foot's no gorram use to anybody." He'd said limping around on crutches that were just slightly too small. It was several days after Simon had decided it was alright for him to start returning to his bunk. He hadn't gotten farther than the stairs leading to the Crew Quarters when River towed him into her room instead. Her shoulder healed remarkably quickly, and it meant that she could spend more time babying Jayne. On the night before the prosthesis maker hand-delivered Jayne's new appendage, Jayne laid in River's bed holding her soothingly.

"Hush now, you know I"m no good at all this weepy stuff." He said, smoothing out her hair and letting his fingers run down her back, careful to avoid the tender spot on her shoulder where the bullet had gone straight through.

"Your life expectancy has not lessened in years. Take it back!"

"C'mon, River. Don't be that way. . . I ain't got no right foot no more. Can't fight nor run like ever. What'm I supposed t'do?"

"The prosthesis is approaching. You will adapt." _Just like you adapted to me_. She thought, mewling and rubbing her cheek into his collarbone. The sound of Jayne's deep sigh caused River to think of the waves coming to shore on an ocean beach, and were always very calming, even when they had been caused by an unsettled or angry emotion.

". . . If you say so." That was Jayne's way of saying 'I'll trust you on this, but I damn well don't feel like it'. River rose up and took hold of the fabric on both his shoulders, using the strength in her lithe body to raise him up to a sit against the wall.

"NO! You are not going to die! I won't let you! You're not allowed! Must do. . . must do what we promised. . . no more red, Jayne! No. . nothing's changed. . . you promised. Said with your words. . . " She kept smacking her fist into his shoulder as she spoke, trying bravely to fend off the emotional tears. Eventually Jayne took hold of her fists and brought her body cradling into his lap.

". . . Promises change. I ain't whole and I'm gettin' on in years" River tried to bubble up with another bought of speech, but Jayne shushed her with a self depricating laugh.

"I ain't got nothin' more'n a stump on m'right leg. Even if this shiny new appendy-age comes in lookin all golden it ain't gonna give me m'motion back. I'm a merc an' I do illegals for a livin' sweetheart. A broken merc's worth half a what a whole merc is. I ain't no sorta useful t'nobody. . a liability"

"The Captain .. "

"The Captain would be better off shootin' me 'tween the eyes an findin' a merc worth a damn!"

"NO!" River shouted like a Commander talking to a beligerent Lieutenant. "He's NOT ALLOWED!"

"I ain't allowed t'do what?" Mal quipped from his place at the door. There was a tray of dinner in his hands, enough for two. Shrugging awkwardly, he placed the tray down when River and Jayne began to look at him as if he'd grown three more arms in the past few seconds. "_Wei_, Inara made me. . . I. . SHE! She wanted t'make . . . so, what's this I'm not allowed t'do on my very own spaceship lil Albatross?"

"Shoot Jayne. No more red, he's not useless." River pouted as she slid off Jayne's lap and sniffed at the dinner. Garlic? Inara must have cooked again. Flexing his muscles, Jayne eyed the Captain with a nod as Mal looked up at his now damaged mercenary like a farmer looks at a horse with a bum leg.

"Aah."

"T'would be a mercy, Mal" Before River could swallow her potatoes and pipe up another retort, Mal held his hands up to them both.

"Woa, now. Nobody on this ship's gonna get new bulletholes. Not even shiny ones."

"Mal!"

"Thank you, Captain Daddy!" River finally swallowed and smiled with that effervescent 'I told you so' look on her face to Jayne. He scowled and nudged her off the bed with a quick elbow.

"Mal, I ain't no good no more!"

"You listen, Jayne. I went to a great lot a hardship with you over the years an' beyond all the almost killin' an' possibilities a turnin' colours we all found ourselves becomin' a crew. Could no more shoot myself in the foot than shoot you up like that. Plus, I think our little Albatross would do somethin' romantical like fly us into the nearest star if'n I tried"

"I would, too! You _know_ I would."

". . . Foot. Yeah, real funny there, Mal" Jayne huffed, largely ignoring the burnination comment for fear of seeing River's vengeful eyes.

"Yeah. . . well. . . I didn't mean it like. . . . not the same foot. . . " Mal bumbled on. "Besides, your foot ain't damaged your shot none and there's enough jobs without a whole bunch of runnin'. Wait for it, Jayne. See what the new foot thing's gonna be like then we'll have this conversation after a while. So, enjoy your protein and potatoes with the lil flecks a"

"Garlic"

"Thank you, Albatross, yes enjoy your garliced potatoes and . . . relax? Clean your guns? Practice knife throwing sitting down. . . but no markin' up my ship, eh?"

"Sure thing, Captain Daddy!" River piped up, clearly happy with the situation. "Eat up, Jayne" his muffled protests gagged out of his mouth as River took a hunk of protein in her hand and splattered it between his lips.

"Gorramit woman! I said shoot me not choke me! . . . Get it right." River's smile always had been a comfort to his soul in these past months, even when they were slightly creepifying. By the time they had finished Kaylee and Inara had scooted the two out of River's room so they could clean up the impromptu food fight left in Jayne and River's wake. Zoe and Mal stood watching over the terrible twosome as they slept in Shepherd Book's old room.

"Gonna be awful hard on 'im, Sir"

"I reckon so, but if Serenity can patch herself together, so can Jayne." Mal gave his First Mate a tiny wink and nod, Zoe sighed with a nod of her own.

Since Wash's death Zoe had lost her happiness, lost her spark dipping back into a severity of military service-like behaviour. Slowly however, Zoe was learning to smile again. It came scared and muffled, a slight rise of her lip at a joke but mostly it had been from watching River and Jayne. They were just so amusing if someone truely watched how the two most dangerous people in the 'verse cohabitated. No one else on Serenity seemed to notice much at all. Zoe had first known it was serious one outing on Persephone. Jayne passed by his favourite whore house and three of the ladies-of-the-night came right out to greet him. Confliction wasn't something Jayne Cobb was too familiar in feeling.

". . . You are wanted." River had stepped away from Jayne's side bowing her head to the pretty women with the artificial scents. Jayne fished some coins out of his pocket and handed them to the lead girl, whose name was Angel.

"Go have fun you three. Don't git inta no trouble. Buy somethin' shiny." He slapped Angel's ass then hung a right with River and Zoe. The whores looked shocked until another of the girls, Shia, giggled and started tugging the other two towards the nearest candy stall. Jayne's reputation grew to the size of a moon that night, his arm around River's shoulder and Zoe promised to every power in the 'verse that she'd try and give those two as much time together as possible before the end. Back on Serenity Zoe had stopped the entire crew from entering the lounge on account of interrupting River and Jayne's passionate rendezvous. River hadn't enough patience to wait until they got to her bunk. It had taken Zoe whipping out her shot gun and standing in front of the door with a 'try me' scowl on her face for Kaylee to decide that the rest of them should play a game. Simon lept halfway up the wall when the sounds started flooding past Zoe's sentinel form. It had been River and Jayne's first time.

Many since, Zoe still stood by the door to Shepherd Book's old room when the amputee Jayne had awoken to River's penitent and erotic kisses. Damn near made Jayne feel he was whole again.


	3. You're Mine, Jayne Cobb

A/N: Thanks for the reviews and the faves. Here's another chapter for you all, enjoy.

* * *

Simon sat in the Cargo Hold with the box carrying Jayne's prosthetic foot and ankle in his hand. He had yet to open it and yet to tell anybody that it was here. Knowing River she would be down in a minute asking why he was still sitting there. Truth be told her concern over her lover's condition warmed Simon's heart. Since the fight at the Maidenhead Jayne hadn't let River out of his sight, but it hadn't been till after the battle on the moon of Mr. Universe that Jayne and River had become more than crew looking out for one another or just a warm body to curl up to.

It had shocked everyone, including them when the tired remnants of Sanctuary's crew got back into the ship and up to the black. Jayne had spent three whole days cleaning all the guns and weapons she had used. Oh, some had been tossed, unuseable, unfit, but he slowly got the rest into bright shining almost newness and had taken the time to explain to River that their past didn't matter so much as their present with her. At supper River had choked on her drink and Jayne instantly moved her away from the table to rub her back as she coughed.

"No use killin' all them Reavers if'n yer just gonna choke on tea. Can't letcha go like that. . . shit!" Jayne acted quickly yanking the biggest bowl on the table, which happened to be the bread bowl, dislodged three sets of plates including his own and handed the bowl to River just as she vomitted into it. Before she had properly finished Jayne reached across the table, took Simon's cup of tea regardless of protest, added a healthy dose of his own personal flask of whiskey to it and held it out for her. Kaylee stepped up to take the bowl away after Jayne handed the cup over.

"Swish 'n'spit, darling, swish 'n' spit." His other hand was still on her back. She obeyed meekly as she scanned the calamity at the table, wincing with the taste of the whiskey. Half of it was caused by the shock at Jayne's all around help and use of his own personal booze supply.

"Sorry! I'm sorry, the food churned and got angry and I couldn't stab it awa--" Simon stood to help, but was held back with a hand from Kaylee.

"Hush now, shush. No need ta explain it. C'mon, let's get you somethin' resemblin' fresh air. I gotcha, c'mon." Kneeling beside her Jayne took River's hands and kissed the tops of them tenderly, his sparkling cerulean eyes never leaving hers. Did he even realise that the others were still watching? Did anyone realise Inara was busy thumping Mal in the back as he choked in shock!?

"I spoiled dinner. . . " River whimpered as Jayne cooly picked her up in his arms and carried her to the cockpit. At least there she could see the stars in the black and it might get her eased up a bit. Sitting into the pilot's chair with River on his lap, Jayne slowly stroked her back.

"Easy now, easy goin's there, sweetheart. Ain't nothin' you spoiled. 'Cept a half cupa your brother's tea" his smirk at that settled River's stomach some, enough that she didn't look so green. It had taken a bar full of drunken men and an army of Reavers for Jayne Cobb to actually isee/i the tiny dancer in hs arms and when he had, the floodgates had burst wide. A strong male's protective instinct took over, but he had enough experience to learn that if he simply growled at all comers it wouldn't do no good. Bless the darling, she needed help from someone sensible, not her medicine toting brother. She needed a partner in crime to understand what Simon couldn't. Might as well be him than any.

"Was doing so well, thought the girl was better, thought they could get on with living."

"Huh? Who thought that?"

"Simon" Her eyes were hot with tears that she vehemently abhorred. Small palms rubbed and rubbed willing the infernal liquid to stay in her eyes and not drip out onto her face. Had to stay strong, show no weakness to Jayne.

"Y'do fine for yourself Moonbrain. Don't listen to them, kay?"

"Listen to you?"

"My mind's not a nice place t'be"

"There's a spot I like to burrow in. You're happy and playing your guitar. There's a dog sleeping in front of the fire, and a woman that looks like m--"

"Stop that!" Jayne shook her gently, wrenching her hands away from her eyes. "You don't go there. That's. . . that's no where that'll happen." He gulped as an unfamiliar fear took hold of his eyes. She had burrowed and found his truest wants and desires and it wrenched him deeply in the gut. Unabashedly, River looked up into and through his eyes striking at that exact image with a whisper.

"We can make it happen. Promise"

"River. . . " Now Jayne was downright scared. He liked River, felt protective of her, knew too much of the affinity towards killin that set them apart from most of the people in the 'verse, and he loved to watch her dance. Trouble was, between Miranda and the Reavers at Mr. Universe's moon something had broke in the merc. Watching River tremble down into a puddle of too much dead in that city tore away the necessity in hiding the nothings in whores and dirty pictures. Sitting near her in the Mess Hall quoting Shepherd Book ripped away the need to hide behind the security of isolation. Watching River throw herself through the doors to the Reavers turned up the protective shock in him something fierce. They was a crew like Mal always said, but somehow through Miranda's eery calm and the battle with Reavers his heart broke right along with hers as she trembled and shook, worried to high heaven that she had just damned herself to save her family, her crew. Now her body in his arms felt like it belonged, he owed his life to River Tam and what was more he knew he owed his soul to her as well. Damn near not worth salvaging but for that little spark left he'd given to her.

She knew the moment she caught him cleaning her weapons, claiming them in her name. He helped her move them into the extra Crew Quarters Mal had claimed for her so she could be near the cockpit, set them up on the wall so as to never let them fall unless needed. She still kept her bedroom beside Simon's in case of bad nights. Her room with the crew was right next to Jayne's and when she wailed at night he could hear her. Jumped into her bunk one night when it got bad, and was holding onto her something fierce before he even realised bodily contact had been made. In she burrowed and Jayne told himself that since he owed everything to her, he might as well let her know it. In this new 'verse, how much longer had any of them got?

"Can't promise nothing right now, River. Not sayin' I won't promise somethin' later, but now. . ." his hoarse voice cut out when her trembling lips captured his. It was sweet and lingering, both of them had no idea where to go from there, and in that innocence River claimed him properly. Once the kiss was over their tandem intakes of breath ended on unstable ground when River curled further into Jayne to watch the stars.

"Promise accepted. You're mine, Jayne Cobb." the small voice carried an ocean of authority behind it despite the frail, delicate nature of her curling herself into his chest, her chin resting on her knees.

". . . Right back atcha, River Tam." Callused hands brushed her hair away from her neck, rubbed against her cheek, and held her securely in his arms.

"I gotta stop carin' about what happens t'my ship. . . DId you guys just. . . did I just hear you guys. . . Inara tell me I hit my head and am hallucinating, please?" Mal said, stumbling into the cockpit to hold onto the nearest locker door. Inara blinked herself, uncharacteristically speechless.

"That you did, Sir. I have to say." Zoe piped up from behind Mal and Inara, clearing her throat. "Kaylee's dragged Simon to the Infirmary. He fainted, an' won't be wakin' for a while."

Jayne spun in the seat and stood with River still in his arms. Her feet swung down gracefully as she backed herself against him and proceeded to back him into the console. A protective arm wrapped around River's waist and shoulder. Their message was clear.

"Mine! Can't have him. Can't space him, can't cut up his man-parts, nor shoot him, nor deny me his presence. Mine!" River spouted out the words with equal parts pleading and equal parts growl. Jayne did the smarter thing and kept quiet, waiting for what the verdict would be and preparing a meagre defence from there.

". . . you can have him . . . I think we've seen enough here. . . Inara. . . I. . . "

"I know, Mal. Why don't I serve you some tea."

"Yeah, tea would be nice." Mal and Inara walked out still dazed and slightly off kilter. Zoe turned to the two of them and nodded.

"Take her to her bunk, Jayne. I don't wanna see you two come out of it again till morning." The widowed warrior woman walked briskly towards the entrance to the Crew Quarters from the Passenger bay to stand guard. River was still muttering about her ownership of Jayne.

"C'mon _bao bei_ I think they get the message." Finally picking her up again, Jayne walked to River's bunk and with some manouvering got them both inside. The rest of the night was spent huddled up on River's bed soothing their fears away resting in the security of each other's arms.

* * *

Simon sat in the Cargo Bay holding Jayne's leg in his hands, holding his sister's lover's future in his fingers. Part of him had wanted to kill Jayne Cobb, but that part was quashed the moment he woke up in the hallway leading to the elevator in that god forsaken moon and saw Jayne tend to River so delicately, like he had been holding the Holy Mother herself in his arms, collecting icons and relics for the ages. It felt like so long ago, it took Simon a while to realise it almost was long ago.

"Simon?" It was River, he didn't turn from staring at the box until he heard and saw her shuffle around to kneel by his feet. Dainty white hands touched the box, her eyes hopefully raised up to her brother's features.

"It's here. Where is he?" Simon nodded, gripping a dainty hand in his own.

"Cleaning his guns in his bunk. He's afraid and worried that it won't come, won't fit. Won't make no difference."

"River. . . " Simon had been very quiet about River's relationship with Jayne over the past months, but now it was time to clear the air. "You know I don't like him, he's unwashed and . . . none too bright."

"He's mine, Simon, won't take it ba--"

"Hush and let me finish, _mei mei_. He's not what I would have liked to see you attaching yourself to, but I can see you're right. He's yours and you're his and I just have to say. . . I've never been so proud of you when you walked into the kitchen the next day threatening the world against trying to come between you. I sincerely wish I could have done that with Kaylee in the beginning. . . Just. . . please imei mei/i be gentle with him? These next few months are going to burn. That's pretty much all I had to say. I love you, River and if I could love you then I can get used to Jayne. . . even though the thought still makes me ill."

River's arms wrapped around her brother's knees as her head descended into his lap. "Thank you, Simon."

After several more minutes of reconnecting the sibling bond, Simon stood and gave River his hand. "Let's go fix your Jayne."


End file.
